Jason the Yank Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? is a book written by Jimmy Breslin chronicling the 1962 New York Mets season. The book chronicled the first season for the New York Mets, an expansion team. The title of the book supposedly came from a remark made by Mets manager Casey Stengel expressing his frustration over the team's spectacular ineptitude. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can't_Anybody_Here_Play_This_Game%3F With that as the background, hopefully what follows is not a career filled with "spectacular ineptitude." The deets: Version FM 13.3 Database: Large, unedited The Nations (all divisions playable) Home base: USA, Mexico The aristocracy:England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain The nouveau riche:Brazil, China, Russia The noisy neighbors:Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay The latecomers (adding these now that I'm a couple of years into the save): Australia, Ukraine Reputation: Sunday League footballer Nationality: American I holidayed into April to clear out the "usual suspects" of FMCU's starting clubs before landing at Changwon City, a semi-pro club in South Korea's N-League. They were 13th when I took over, right where they were predicted. Because of a near total absence of players who could play out wide, I opted for a skinny diamond formation. We went 7-3-3, briefly poking our head into the playoff places before fading at the end to finish 9th. 2013 saw little change at Changwon, and we were picked to finish 11th. But we played reasonably well, finishing in 4th, whilst reaching the semifinal of the N-League Cup. We made it through the first round of the playoffs with a 1-0 extra time win over Ansan Hallelujah, before a poor 0-3 defeat to Ulsan HMD in the second round. Changwon was steadily losing money, and the board wanted me to sell players to raise funds (except none of our players were likely to fetch much cash, if any). So I declined the offer of a new contract and resigned after the playoff defeat. About a month later, I landed the job at Gangwon FC, who'd sacked their manager following a defeat in the relegation playoff. That's where we pick up the story.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 Career summary [spoiler] League Season Club Nation League GP W D L PTS FINISH 2012 Changwon City ROK N-League 13 7 3 3 24 9th (13th when hired) 2013 Changwon City ROK N-League 26 11 4 11 37 4th (Playoff 2nd Round) 2014 Gangwon FC ROK N-League [/spoiler] [spoiler] Cups Season Club Nation Cup FINISH 2013 Changwon City ROK FA Cup Third round (Ulsan 5-1 Changwon) 2013 Changwon City ROK N-League Cup Semifinal (Gwangju 1-0 Changwon) [/spoiler] [spoiler] Career Totals Club Nation GP W D L Win% Changwon City ROK 47 21 9 17 44 [/spoiler] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 Around the world... Argentina 2012-13 1. River Plate/Boca Juniors ... Relegated: All Boys, Quilmes, Union Brazil 2012 1. Cruzerio, 2. Fluminense, 3. Atletico Mineiro ... Relegated: Cortiba, Atletico Goianiense, Portuguesa, Figureirense 2013 1. Santos, 2. Sao Paulo, 3. Vasco ... Relegated: Parana, Nautico, Ponte Preta, Avai England 2012-13 1. Man City, 2. Man Utd, 3. Chelsea ... Relegated: Reading, Wigan, Norwich France 2012-13 1. PSG, 2. Lyon, 3. Nancy ... Relegated: ESTAC Troyes, Rennes, Stade de Reims Germany 2012-13 1. Bayern, 2. Dortmund, 3. Eintracht .... Relegated: Nurnberg, Augsburg, Mainz Holland 2012-13 1. Twente, 2. Utrecht, 3. Ajax ... Relegated: RKC, Willem II Italy 2012-13 1. Juventus, 2. Fiorentina, 3. AC Milan ... Relegated: Torino, Pescara, Udinese Mexico 2012-13 Open: America/America, Close: Cruz Azul/America ... Relegated: Atlas Portugal 2012-13 1. Benfica, 2. Porto, 3. Sporting ... Relegated: Gil Vicente, Moreirense Russia 2012-13 1. Spartak Moscow, 2. Rubin Kazan, 3. CSKA Moscow ... Relegated: Volga NN, Terek Grozny Scotland 2012-13 1. Celtic, 2. Dundee United, 3. Hearts ... Relegated: St. Johnstone Spain 2012-13 1. Barcelona, 2. Real Madrid, 3. Valencia ... Relegated: Deportivo, Osasuna, Zaragoza USA 2012 League: Seattle ... Playoffs: Philadelphia 2013 League: Los Angeles ... Playoffs: New England Club World Cup 2012 Winner: Chelsea ... Runner-up: Corinthians African Champions League 2012 Winner: Zamalek (EGY) ... Runner-up: TP Mazembe (COD) 2013 Winner: Ismaily (EGY) ... Runner-up: Al-Ahly (EGY) Asian Champions League 2012 Winner: Guangzhou (CHN) ... Runner-up: Al-Ittihad (KSA) 2013 Winner: Funabashi Bandits (JPN) ... Runner-up: Guangzhou (CHN) UEFA Champions League 2012-13 Winner: Barcelona ... Runner-up: Man Utd (ENG) CONCACAF Champions League 2012-13 Winner: Los Angeles (USA) ... Runner-up: Chivas (MEX) Oceania Champions League 2012-13 Winner: Auckland City (NZL) ... Runner-up: Waitakere Utd (NZL) Copa Libertadores 2013 Winner: Cruzeiro (BRA) ... Runner-up: Fluminense (BRA) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 My first pre-season with Gangwon wasn't ideal, as it was more about cutting the wage bill or scrambling to fill our right flank. The biggest move was to sell striker Kim Young-Hoo to Al-Arabi (QAT) for $775,000 up front and $90,000 after 10 league goals. I wasn't looking to sell him, but with us being more than $2M in the red, I didn't feel I could reject it. Other than that, there's no pressure at all, unless you count the board wanting us to challenge for the N-League title, and the bookies setting us as joint favorites to go up (the media predict us to come in 3rd). Relegation definitely hit the club hard as we sold only 2,943 season tickets, a sharp decline from last season's 3,590. Saturday, 8 March, 2014 Sangju 0-0 Gangwon (N-League) Under pressure the whole game, with Sangju firing 15 shots to our 2. Fortunately, our goalkeeper needed to make only 4 saves. Still, this is one of our tougher games in the league out of the way early. Saturday, 15 March, 2014 Gangwon 2-0 Incheon Korail (N-League) Eun-Joong 20 Scardina 27 Spurned a couple of golden opportunities early (one in which in the opposing goalkeeper had to drop the ball as his momentum was carrying him outside the penalty area; Eun-Joong proceeded to shoot wide of the empty net) but went on to establish control of the match. We were good for 60% possession and held Korail to 5 shots, all off target. Friday, 21 March, 2014 Gimhae 0-4 Gangwon (N-League) Eun-Joong 20 Jeong-Joo 21 Scardina 50, 53 Believe it or not, we were set up to counter the entire match. That's how ruthless we were. Almost as pleasing to me, we didn't pick up a yellow, after getting 3 in each of the first two matches. Saturday, 29 March, 2014 Gangwon 1-2 Daejeon KHNP Jeong-Joo 7 Bottled it against one of our fellow relegated sides. Took the lead early, but 6 minutes later saw our defence breached for the first time in 283 minutes. That seemed to rattle our players, as they began to play anxiously, having trouble just making a pass. The winner came on 70 minutes when my goalkeeper made a save that rebounded to a Daejeon player staring a wide open net. [b]N-League (Through 4 of 26 rounds) 1. Daegu 12 2. Sangju 10 3. GANGWON 7 (+5) 4. Suwon City 7 (+2) 5. Changwon 7 (+1) 6. Yongin City 7 (+1) ------------------------- 7. Incheon Korail 6 (+1) 8. Daejeon KHNP 6 (+1) 9. Mokpo 6 (-1) 10.Busan TC 5 11.Cheonan City 4 12.Gangneung City 3 13.Ansan H FC 0 (-12) 14.Gimhae 0 (-12) [i]Sangju are ineligible for promotion[/i] Manager's thoughts I really can't complain too much. We're running with a skeletal playing staff at the moment with the hopes of filling in cover later (although the transfer deadline has passed, so any new players will have to wait until the window opens again in July). The downside is our DC/DM Bae Hyo-Sung just suffered a broken leg in training. He was to sit in front of the defense but started the season on the backline due to an injury. Now, he'll do neither. Not for another 7 to 8 months anyway (which means he's essentially done for the season) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animosama Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 good luck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 I'm glad you've done this as a thread tbh, been reading your progress in the mini update thread but couldn't help but think it would be better done as a big thread rather than be tucked away in there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 I'm glad you've done this as a thread tbh, been reading your progress in the mini update thread but couldn't help but think it would be better done as a big thread rather than be tucked away in there. Did it there until I felt I'd reached a point I was going to stick with it. Had a couple of false starts with other saves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Boo Mets! (Go Cards!) Look forward to this! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 I don't normally go into the mini updates, so good to see you back with a full on career Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Saturday, 5 April, 2014 Cheonan City 0-3 Gangwon (N-League) Scardina 4 Eun-Joong 26, 34 Both teams took a lot of shots, but we were much efficient with ours. Friday, 11 April, 2014 Gangwon 4-1 Changwon (N-League) Eun-Joong 8 Jeong-Joo 50, 61 Scardina 81 Buried my former charges. Made a minor tactical tweak at halftime to put pressure on their 3-man backline that paid off with Jeong-Joo's brace from the AMC spot. Saturday, 19 April, 2014 Gangneung City 0-4 Gangwon (N-League) Eun-Joong 24 Scardina 29, 67 Joon-Yeop 44 Thrashed our derby rivals. They didn't roll over for us, but our goalkeeper made some timely saves to preserve the clean sheet. Wednesday, 23 April, 2014 Gangwon 3-2 Suwon City (N-League) Scardina 50 Jeong-Joo 61 Joon-Yeop 89 Made it much harder on ourselves than we needed to. Fell behind early in the match thanks to some careless defending. The hairdryer treatment at halftime spurred on a couple of players, though my left flank continued to look "uninterested" or "complacent". Finally grabbed the winner when the right wing delivers a beautiful volley at full speed just inside the far post. Suwon City thought they had an equalizer in the 4th minute of stoppage time, but it was ruled out for offside. Saturday, 26 April, 2014 Busan TC 4-2 Gangwon (N-League) Scardina 41 Joon-Yeop 85 Spured a host of early chances until Scardina connected with a diving header past an onrushing goalkeeper. Then our right back got himself two yellows early in the second half and we fell apart (not helped by our short bench meaning I had to stick a right midfielder back there). Especially disappointed with the left back "looking uninterested" as Busan were racking up goals. Managed to pull back a late consolation, but that's all it was. [b]N-League (through 9 of 26 rounds)[/b] 1. Daegu 27 2. Sangju 23 3. GANGWON 19 4. Daejeon KHNP 15 5. Incheon Korail 14 6. Yongin City 13 (-1) -------------------------- 7. Mokpo 13 (-2) 8. Busan TC 12 9. Suwon City 10 (-3) 10. Changwon 10 (-7) 11. Gangneung City 9 12. Cheonan City 7 13. Ansan H FC 6 14. Gimhae 1 Manager's thoughts: Was a brilliant month up until the end. Unfortunately Daegu are pulling off into the distance with maximum points from their first nine fixtures, making our board's demand of a title challenge look unlikely. Did I mention we play Daegu next? Without our starting DR and MR due to a red card and yellow card accumulation, respectively. If we lose that, we'll be 11 points adrift of Daegu with 16 matches left, making the title chase all but a coronation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Well that didn't last long. On May 2, the board informed me they were cutting the wage budget from $36.35K/week to $24.61K. I decided that was ********, so I walked. (tbf, the club lost over $200,000 in April alone) A month later, my job application was met with favor by Jupiler League side De Graafschap. 2 years on $2.2K/week. They just finished the season in 9th (media prediction had been 2nd), so these budgets may change: Transfer Budget: $105,000 Wage Budget: $95,000/week Current wages: $88.46K/week They're one year into a deal to be a feeder club for Saint Etienne (players can be loaned to us, ASSE have right of first refusal, all for an annual fee of $82.41K). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Shame Gangwon didn't work out but De Graafschap look to be more financially stable and having a decent parent club can only help you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Welcome back Jason. Why can't Sangju win promotion? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Welcome back Jason. Why can't Sangju win promotion? I believe it's because players don't actually sign contracts with them, but play for them when they're on their national service: http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2959358. My starting GK suddenly showed up on loan with them my last season at Changwon, I wasn't given the opportunity to confirm or reject. There's another club (Police) in the non-playable leagues that's set up in a similar fashion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Police_FC Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Hopefully you can stick around in Holland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 ******* chairmen. Damn cheek! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Good luck in Holland! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Tough luck in Asia (it was nice to see an Asian team on here) but hopefully you have more luck in The Netherlands. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 2014 World Cup - Brazil Group A Group B Group C Group D Cameroon 5 Mexico 6 Portugal 9 England 5 Croatia 5 Brazil 6 Slovakia 6 Japan 4 (+1) ---------- -------- ---------- ------------ Australia 4 Ukraine 3 Costa Rica 3 Nigeria 4 (0) Romania 1 Senegal 3 Colombia 0 Uruguay 3 Group E Group F Group G Group H Italy 6 Germany 7 Spain 9 France 9 USA 6 Norway 7 Honduras 4 (-3) Russia 6 ------- --------- ---------- -------- Chile 4 Ecuador 3 Ghana 4 (-5) Argentina 3 Ivory Coast 1 South Korea 0 Iceland 0 Iran 0 [b]Second Round[/b] Cameroon 1-0 Brazil Croatia p1-1 Mexico Japan 1-2e Portugal England 2-1 Slovakia Norway 0-2 Italy USA 2-2p Germany Russia 0-3 Spain Honduras 1-3 France [b]Quarterfinal[/b] Cameroon p2-2 England Croatia 1-0 Portugal Italy e2-1 France Germany 1-1p Spain [b]Semifinal[/b] Cameroon 0-1 Spain Croatia 1-2 Italy [b]Third Place Playoff[/b] Croatia 2-1 Cameroon [b]Final[/b] Spain 2-0 Italy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 Struggling in pre-season with a bunch of big-time Charlies "finding it difficult to motivate themselves to play for you." How about playing for your paycheques then? On the bright side, the revenue from Jupiler League TV rights has cleared our overdraft. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Poor showing from Brazil in their World Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 The Dutch leagues are always fun. Hopefully, it's a better experience than in Asia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Poor showing from Brazil in their World Cup. But at least the England performance was true to form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 But we reached the Quarter Finals and didn't play Germany or Argentina. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Been sucked in to Crusader Kings 2, but finally made some time for FM. July 7, 2014: Given $3.51M in Jupiler League TV rights Board expects to reach the playoff Tranfer budget: $103K Wage budget: $94.48K p/w Current wages: $71,717 p/w Sold M/AM C Niels Vorthoren for $60,000 Sold MC Caner Cavlan to Rijnsburgse Boys for $18,000 Sold DM/MC Shkodran Metaj for $50,000 +$250,000 to Elche. Was transfer listed by request, wanted to move to bigger club. Received $203,000 in solidarity payment from Ties Evers' transfer from Vitesse to AA Gent Get a new general sponsorship with a local company for $65K p.a. for 3 years. All of that means we've gone from in the red when I arrived to about $850,000 in the black. Friday, 8 August, 2014 FC Oss 1-4 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 2,630 A real surprise after a lackluster pre-season. Had trouble holding onto the ball (just 41% of the possession), but still managed to take 15 shots and put 8 of them on frame, compared to just 15-3 from Oss. We were 0-4 up at halftime, and Oss' goal came as a result of a fortunate deflection that wrong-footed our keeper following a corner. 11 August, 2014: Reported season ticket sales of 9,053, down from last season's 9,219 Friday, 15 August, 2014 De Graafschap 1-3 Volendam (Jupiler League) Attendance: 12,037 Exact opposite of the Oss match. A lethargic performance was punished by Volendam's 3-4-3 set up. Looked much more dangerous in the second half when we switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3, but could only get the one goal. Friday, 22 August, 2014 De Graafschap 0-1 Excelsior (Jupiler League) Attendance: 12,010 Spurned a number of opportunities and it came back to bite us late. Monday, 25 August, 2014 De Graafschap 1-0 FC Den Bosch (Jupiler League) Attendance: 12,107 A lot of dross in this match as the teams combined for 16 shots, but put only one of them on target. But it was a quality strike as our left wing hit a long ball a bit too far in front of our right wing. He managed to catch up to it though and before momentum carried he and the ball over the goal line, he managed to flick a shot from an extreme angle that somehow found the far post. A massive three points for us. Friday, 29 August, 2014 SC Cambuur 2-2 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 5,909 Had to fight from behind twice in the first half, then survive a nervy final 15 or 20 minutes in the match. Lost a forward to injury for the second consecutive match, but this one really hurt as he had both our goals. [b]2014-15 Jupiler League (through 5 of 34 rounds)[/b] 1. Volendam 13 ------------------ 2. RKC 11 3. SC Cambuur 10 (+6) 4. MVV 10 (+1) 5. FC Emmen 9 ------------------ 6. FC Eindhoven 8 (+3) 7. Excelsior 8 (0) 8. DE GRAAF. 7 (+1) 9. FC Dordrecht 7 (+1) 10.AGOVV 7 (-1) 11. Almere City 6 12. Den Bosch 5 (-2) 13. Telstar 5 (-2) 14. FC Oss 4 (-4) 15. Spakenburg 4 (-8) 16. SC Veendam 3 (-4) 17. Sparta 3 (-4) ------------------ 18. Helmond Sp. 3 (-5) Manager's thoughts A much of muchness. Players are still getting accustomed to the formations, and many of them "are finding it difficult to motivate themselves to play for a manager of your stature." All I can really do is keep on keeping on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Biggest moves on Jim White Day 2014: Mario Balotelli from AC Milan to Napoli for $36M Jack Rodwell from Man City to Arsenal for $19.75M Rafael from Man Utd to Bayern Munich for $19.5M Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 Friday, 5 September, 2014 Almere City 1-0 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 1,775 Gave up too many opportunities, but my keeper really should have got to the one they did score. Looked like he dove right over it. Friday, 12 September, 2014 De Graafschap 0-1 SC Veendam (Jupiler League) Attendance: 11,464 Another lethargic performance, with Veendam's goal coming from a free kick about 30 yards out that found the underside of the bar. Friday, 19 September, 2014 MVV 2-1 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 5,152 Another poor performance as we were chasing shadows all day. Made a nice move for our goal, but it was just a consolation. Thursday, 25 September, 2014 SC Cambuur 1-2 De Graffschap, AET (KNVB Cup, Second Round) Attendance: 4,993 The match that kickstarts our season? We held a successful team meeting earlier in the week, but it didn't look like it would pay off after our goalkeeper turned a shot onto our captain, which bounced in for an own goal in the first minute of play. Looked like we were going out until the 87th minute when our left wing was sprung by an excellent through ball from the lone striker who'd come in off the bench. So that forced extra time, and then in the 96th minute, we got a second bite of the cherry from a corner, with our striker managing to create a bit of space in the box and lash home the match winner. Sunday, 28 September, 2014 De Graafschap 0-2 AGOVV (Jupiler League) Attendance: 9,587 No. No it is not. We make a hash of clearing the ball from our penalty area and are punished for it. The coup de grace comes in the second half when our defense gets torn open as we're hunting for an equalizer. Injuries mean AGOVV finish with EIGHT men. And we still can't do anything against them. We can't hold onto the ball, we can't get shots on target, and the players who can do that are Big Time Charlies who go through games "looking uninterested." [b]2014-15 Jupiler League (through 9 of 34 rounds)[/b] 1. Volendam 17 (+8) 2. Excelsior 17 (+2) 3. MVV 17 (+1) 4. SC Cambuur 15 (+7) 5. FC Eindhoven 15 (+4) 6. RKC 15 (+4) 7. AGOVV 14 8. Telstar 13 9. FC Den Bosch 12 (0) 10.FC Emmen 12 (0) 11.Almere City 12 (-1) 12.FC Oss 12 (-2) 13.FC Dordrecht 11 14.SC Veendam 10 15.Spakenburg 9 16.Helmond Spo. 8 17.DE GRAAFS. 7 18.Sparta 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Bit of a bad start there hopefully you can turn it round Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongrel Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Ihh, tough start, but at least things are tight down at the bottom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 Friday, 3 October, 2014 Sparta 2-1 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 7,241 An unexpected relegation 6-pointer for us, with the jackals in the press already starting to speculate about my future. I decided to bench some of the Billy Big Times and start a couple of young players with bright futures. And it actually seemed to go well, as we moved the ball around crisply. We took the lead just before halftime. And then the roof caved in again. A poorly headed backpass from our left back was intercepted and buried into an open net. Then a goal kick goes straight to an opposing forward, who breaks free for an easy one-on-one with the keeper. And we're now in the cellar. Friday, 10 October, 2014 De Graafschap 2-0 FC Dordrecht (Jupiler League) Attendance: 10,025 The last chance saloon, as we go into the match with my job listed as "precarious". Finally the bounces start going our way. We spurn a couple of good chances. The Dordrecht keeper makes a fantastic save of what was almost certainly a goal and I'm thinking "Here we go again." But then we win a penalty to take the lead into halftime. Plenty of heart-in-mouth moments follow in the second half, but this time we're able to win the scrambles in our goal mouth. Could have made it much easier on ourselves, but again spur lovely opportunities before our substitute striker (brought on after the left wing was "looking complacent", this a couple of days after he complains to me about the club underachieving. Uh, maybe you might want to help turn things around instead of swanning about?), um, anyway the substitute striker gets onto a through ball and volleys home the insurance goal in stoppage time. And we're off the bottom! And I still have my job! Friday, 17 October, 2014 Telstar 2-2 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 2,428 We were up 2-0 inside of half an hour thanks to some really nice linkup play. And then the defending got sloppy and gave up the lead. Usually you're happy to get a point away from home, but we really could and should have got all three. Friday, 24 October, 2014 De Graafschap 2-1 FC Eindhoven (Jupiler League) Attendance: 9,526 A tough match against a team in the playoff spots. Some lovely combination play gave us the lead after just 75 seconds. Eindhoven equalised from a corner in the 35th minute, but our young right wing managed to wriggle free in the box and score his first goal for the club to win the match. Wednesday, 29 October, 2014 FC Utrecht 3-0 De Graafschap (KNVB Cup, Third Round) Attendance: 16,622 A tough draw against an Eredivisie side, albeit one struggling at the wrong end of the table. Match was closer than the score suggests; Utrecht took the lead in the 40th minute when a deflection bounced off our goalkeeper and into the net. Utrecht put it out of reach with goals in the 79th and 91st minutes when we were chasing the game. [b]2014-15 Jupiler League (through 13 of 34 rounds)[/b] 1. Excelsior 29 2. MVV 24 3. SC Cambuur 23 4. FC Emmen 21 5. Volendam 20 (+9) 6. AGOVV 20 (+1) 7. FC Eindhoven 19 8. RKC 18 (0) 9. FC Oss 18 (-1) 10.FC Den Bosch 17 (0) 11.Telstar 17 (-2) 12.Helmond Sp. 17 (-3) 13.FC Dordrecht 16 (0) 14.Almere City 16 (-1) 15.DE GRAAFSCH. 14 16.Sparta 12 17.SC Veendam 11 18.Spakenburg 10 Manager's thoughts Still not doing well, but doing better. We've played much better as the team has come to grasp what I want to do tactically, and thanks to a small tweak I made to bring the 2 holding midfielders farther upfield into the center of the park instead of just in front of the back four. We're still prone to the occasional brain cramp though, but that's to be expected given the youth in our side. By age, we're lining up 19-22-24-23 on the backline, 33-19 in central midfield, 26-27-21 and 25 in the attack. In the meantime, the scouts are continuing to scour the globe looking for players, and there are a few I have my eye on now should the more self-important players in our side end up moving on in the winter transfer window. We have to keep improving though, if I want to hold onto my job. I'm still listed as "very insecure". We finish up the first half of the season at Emmen (4th), home to RKC (8th) and Spakenburg (18th) and at Helmond Sport (12th). Not the easiest stretch of games, but some winnable contests in there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongrel Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Much better performance, and some good wins with your back firmly against the wall. With your team that young, hopefully you can stay up and build something in seasons to come. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Still nice and close if you can get some form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 11, 2013 Author Share Posted July 11, 2013 Saturday, 1 November, 2014 FC Emmen 3-0 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 3,125 A dull first half in which Emmen's goal was the only bit of excitement. Breakdowns in the center of defense cost us badly in the second half, leading to Emmen's final two goals. Friday, 7 November, 2014 De Graafschaap 3-0 RKC (Jupiler League) Attendance: 10,021 A fantastic result and one we really needed (well, and me too, since my job is still hanging by a thread), facing a team just inside the playoff spots. Went into halftime scoreless after we'd had a goal waved off for handball. Took the lead shortly after the restart and kept RKC without even much of a look at goal. Friday, 14 November, 2014 De Graafschap 3-0 Spakenburg (Jupiler League) Attendance: 9,556 A game against the bottom side, and it was hardly a shooting clinic: We fired 16 shots but only put 5 on target; Spakenburg were even worse, with just 1 of 13 shots on target. The biggest difference though was our new left wing Adil Chihi (he'd been at Koln for 10 years before being released after last season) who we signed after a month-long trial. The coaches all think he'd be a good Eredivisie player right now, and he was certainly a class apart scoring a brace and setting up the third goal on his debut. We're sitting in 15th after the match, but only 3 points out of 6th as the league table is exceptionally tight as we approach the halfway mark. Friday, 21 November, 2014 Helmond Sport 0-1 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 3,875 Facing an in-form side who've rocketed up the table to 4th thanks to 5 consecutive wins (clinching a playoff spot in the process). We were on the back foot most of the game, defending a lead taken in the 3rd minute when Nelson Viera scored in his first appearance this season. Fortunately most of Helmond Sport's shots were from distance, and our goalkeeper made the tough saves we needed him to get to. It's 3 wins on the trot for us now, and we end the season's first half in 9th, just 2 points off the playoffs. And only 2 points clear of 16th. Friday, 28 November, 2014 De Graafschap 2-1 FC Oss (Jupiler League) Attendance: 9,544 Managed to go 2-0 up inside of 20 minutes. Oss made it interesting with a goal in 2nd half stoppage time, but we were able to run out victorious. [b]2014-15 Jupiler League (Through 18 of 34 rounds)[/b] 1. Excelsior 41 2. FC Emmen 29 3. SC Cambuur 28 (+8) 4. FC Eindhoven 28 (+8) 5. MVV 27 6. Volendam 26 (+5) 7. FC Den Bosch 26 (+4) 8. DE GRAAFSCH. 26 (+3) 9. Helmond Sp. 26 (-2) 10.Sparta 25 (+3) 11.AGOVV 25 (0) 12.Almere City 25 (-2) 13.FC Dordrecht 24 14.RKC 23 (-1) 15.Telstar 23 (-2) 16.FC Oss 21 17.SC Veendam 14 ------------------ 18.Spakenburg 10 [i]Period winners: Excelsior, Helmond Sport[/i] Manager's thoughts So we've managed to punch our way off the ropes, thanks to a favorable run of fixtures. December promises to be a tough effort with 3 of our 4 fixtures away from home, facing Volendam (6th), Excelsior (1st) and FC Den Bosch (7th), sandwiched around a home match against SC Cambuur (3rd). Then it's a month off for the winter break when I'll see about doing some shopping. We could use a better goalkeeper, and probably a forward more suited to be able to operate alone up top. But first things first, we've got to come through December at least still within sight of the playoffs. Morale in the squad is slowly improving, but we still get players appearing complacent or uninterested during the match. It's not exactly encouraging when arguably your best defender makes his first appearance in six weeks (and only because one of your regular centerbacks comes down with food poisoning) and is "looking uninterested" during the match. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Jim White Day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 11, 2013 Author Share Posted July 11, 2013 Well it is, isn't it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 No chance of catching Excelsior but a good turn around in the past few weeks makes good reading for a runners up/playoff spot Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias333 Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Good to see someone else in the Jupiler League. Started a journey man style save a month back as AGOVV. Against all the odds and to my utter shock I won the league on the final day by 1point! Started the day in 3rd as well so was stunned when Helmond & De Graff messed up on the final day. Was very relieved as didnt like the look of the playoffs. From what I can make out i'd already guarenteed a playoff spot thanx to winning period 3 of the league but beyound that it gets confusing and you seem to have to play alot of rounds before playing the teams who finished in the relegation zone in league above. One of my best achiements on FM for many years as no game breaking tactics used etc...just my own (in-consistent) tactics. Only problem is we've not got a brilliant squad and money wise were one of the poorest in the Holland and the jump looks huge from Jupiler League to top division. Good luck with your save. Keep updates coming Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Much better now, keep it up mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 Monday, 1 December, 2014 Volendam 2-0 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 3,601 Changed formations to counter Volendam's 3-4-3 with a 4-1-2-2-1, which the players were a bit unfamiliar with. We were unfortunate to lose, with Volendam scoring from a corner in the 60th when we failed to close down outside the box. They put it out out of reach in the 78th minute when their forward outraced my central defense to the ball, smashed it against the crossbar, then got to the rebound and buried it into an open net. Friday, 5 December, 2014 De Graafschap 0-3 SC Cambuur (Jupiler League) Attendance: 10,162 What is this I don't even. Fell behind in the 15th minute when my center back weakly headed the ball back toward our goal, caught up to it, and then he and the goalkeeper couldn't decide who should clear it out of our 6-yard-box, allowing an opposing forward to nip in and score. That forward ended up scoring a hat-trick as our backline simply failed to answer the bell. Friday, 12 December, 2014 Excelsior 0-2 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 3,445 A smash-and-grab victory against the table-toppers (who've now lost 3 on the spin). Opted for a 5-3-2 and whilst we were dominated in possession (66-34) we fired 14 shots. Only got 3 of them on target, but that turned out to be all we needed. A scrappy goal (our deep-lying forward Hulst loses the ball in the penalty area, but slide tackles it toward his strike partner El Hassnaoui who cooly puts it past the keeper) gave us the lead on 53 minutes. El Hassnaoui finished it off on 71 minutes from the top of the penalty area. Friday, 19 December, 2014 FC Den Bosch 2-1 De Graafschap (Jupiler League) Attendance: 3,460 A real kick in the teeth on many levels. We stayed in the 5-3-2, only for Den Bosch to take the lead in the 18th as we kept gifting possession. I decided to change things up at halftime and make 2 substitutions as part of a switch to the 4-2-3-1. We looked much better and fortune seemed to smile on us when El Hassnaoui had the ball tackled away from him, only for it to drift into Viera's path. He buried what would prove to be our only shot on target for the equalizer. But just as we were getting ready to take a hard-fought draw, Den Bosch managed a quick one-two to beat our center backs and take the lead in stoppage time. We had time for one attack, only for our right wing to .... I don't know, play the ball off the defender. Only it went straight into touch, to finish a disappointing loss. I wouldn't be making the trip back to De Graafschap though. The managing director informed me that my services would no longer be required. And six days before Christmas. [b]2014-15 Jupiler League (through 20 of 34 rounds)[/b] 1. Excelsior 41 2. SC Cambuur 40 3. MVV 39 4. Volendam 35 (+9) 5. FC Eindhoven 35 (+8) 6. FC Den Bosch 33 7. Telstar 32 8. FC Dordrecht 31 9. Sparta 30 (+3) 10.FC Emmen 30 (+2) 11.RKC 30 (+2) 12.Helmond Sp. 30 (-4) 13.DE GRAAFSCH. 29 (-1) 14.Almere City 29 (-6) 15.AGOVV 28 16.FC Oss 25 17.SC Veendam 16 18.Spakenburg 12 [i]Qualified for playoffs: Excelsior, Helmond Sport[/i] Manager's thoughts I've been sacked. Not much to do now except dust myself off and start firing off my CV. A thoroughly frustrating stay in the Netherlands, not helped by the players' lack of respect for me. Perhaps I need to downshift a bit and look for a smaller club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 League Season Club Nation League GP W D L PTS FINISH 2012 Changwon City ROK N-League 13 7 3 3 24 9th (13th when hired) 2013 Changwon City ROK N-League 26 11 4 11 37 4th (Playoff 2nd Round) 2014 Gangwon FC ROK N-League 10 6 1 3 19 (Quit when wage budget cut) 2014-15 De Graafschap NED Jupiler League 20 9 2 11 29 SACKED 19 December Cups Season Club Nation Cup FINISH 2013 Changwon City ROK FA Cup Third round (Ulsan 5-1 Changwon) 2013 Changwon City ROK N-League Cup Semifinal (Gwangju 1-0 Changwon) 2014-15 De Graafschap NED KNVB Cup Third round (Utrecht 3-0 De Graafschap) Career Totals Club Nation GP W D L Win% Changwon City ROK 47 21 9 17 44 De Graafschap NED 20 9 2 12 45 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 Argentina 2012-13 1. River Plate/Boca Juniors ... Relegated: All Boys, Quilmes, Union 2013-14 1. Colon/Boca Juniors ... Relegated: Gimnasia (LP), Patronato, Godoy Cruz Australia 2013-14 Melbourne Victory (Premiers) ... Brisbane Road (Champions) 2014-15 Melbourne Victory (Premiers) ... Sydney FC (Champions) Austria 2012-13 1. Red Bull Salzburg 2. SV Mattersburg 3. Austria Wien .... Relegated: Wacker Innsbruck 2013-14 1. Red Bull Salzburg 2. Rapid Wien 3. Sturm Graz ... Relegated: First Vienna Belgium 2012-13 1. Club Brugge 2. Anderlecht 3. Genk ... Relegated: Lokeren 2013-14 1. Genk 2. Anderlecht 3. Club Brugge ... Relegated: Westerlo (playoff), OH Leuven Brazil 2012 1. Cruzerio, 2. Fluminense, 3. Atletico Mineiro ... Relegated: Cortiba, Atletico Goianiense, Portuguesa, Figureirense 2013 1. Santos, 2. Sao Paulo, 3. Vasco ... Relegated: Parana, Nautico, Ponte Preta, Avai 2014 1. Santos, 2. Sao Paulo, 3. Corinthians ... Relegated; Ceara, Bahia, Atletico Paranaense, Vitoria China 2012 1. Guangzhou 2. Tianjin 3. Renhe ... Relegated: Shenxin 2013 1. Guangzhou 2. Shandong 3. Beijing ... Relegated: Wuhan, Qingdao 2014 1. Shandong 2. Guangzhou 3. Jiangsu ... Relegated: A'erbin, Yongchang Denmark 2012-13 1. Kobenhavn 2. Silkeborg 3. Nordsjaelland ... Relegated: SonderjyskE, AaB 2013-14 1. Kobenhavn 2. Nordsjaelland 3. OB .... Relegated: Silkeborg, Lyngby England 2012-13 1. Man City, 2. Man Utd, 3. Chelsea ... Relegated: Reading, Wigan, Norwich 2013-14 1. Chelsea 2. Man City 3. Man Utd ... Relegated: Hull, Sunderland, QPR France 2012-13 1. PSG, 2. Lyon, 3. Nancy ... Relegated: ESTAC Troyes, Rennes, Stade de Reims 2013-14 1. PSG 2. Lyon 3. Marseille ... Relegated: Bastia, Sedan Ardennes, Ajaccio Germany 2012-13 1. Bayern, 2. Dortmund, 3. Eintracht .... Relegated: Nurnberg (playoff), Augsburg, Mainz 2013-14 1. Leverkusen 2. Bayern 3. Dortmund ... Relegated: 1860 Munich, Hertha Berlin Holland 2012-13 1. Twente, 2. Utrecht, 3. Ajax ... Relegated: RKC (playoff), Willem II 2013-14 1. PSV 2. Ajax 3. AZ ... Relegated: Helmond Sport Italy 2012-13 1. Juventus, 2. Fiorentina, 3. AC Milan ... Relegated: Torino, Pescara, Udinese 2013-14 1. Juventus 2. Napoli 3. Fiorentina ... Relegated: Chievo, Spezia, Siena Mexico 2012-13 Open: America/America, Close: Cruz Azul/America ... Relegated: Atlas 2013-14 Open: Pachuca/America, Close: America/Leon ... Relegated: Correcaminos Norway 2012 1. Molde 2. Rosenborg 3. Lillestrom ... Relegated: Stabaek, Brann, Viking 2013 1. Rosenborg 2. Molde 3. Aalesund ... Relegated: Strommen, Sandnes Ulf, Odd 2014 1. Rosenborg 2. Valerenga, 3. Tromso ... Relegated: Ull/Kisa, Stromgodset, Honefoss Portugal 2012-13 1. Benfica, 2. Porto, 3. Sporting ... Relegated: Gil Vicente, Moreirense 2013-14 1. Benfica 2. Porto 3. Sporting ... Relegated: Beira-Mar, Freamunde Russia 2012-13 1. Spartak Moscow, 2. Rubin Kazan, 3. CSKA Moscow ... Relegated: Volga NN, Terek Grozny 2013-14 1. CSKA Moscow 2. Anji 3. Spartak Moscow ... Relegated: Ural, SKA Khabarovsk Scotland 2012-13 1. Celtic, 2. Dundee United, 3. Hearts ... Relegated: St. Johnstone 2013-14 1. Celtic 2. Hearts 3. Motherwelll ... Relegated: Aberdeen South Korea 2012 1. Suwon Blue Wings 2. Seoul 3. Gyeongnam ... Relegated: Sangju (administrative), Gwangju 2013 1. Suwon Blue Wings 2. Seongnam 3. Seoul ... Relegated: Gangwon (playoff), Daegu, Daejeon KHNP 2014: 1. Suwon Blue Wings 2. Seongnam 3. Seoul ... Relegated: Kookmin Bank (playoff), Ulsan HMD, Chungju Hummel Spain 2012-13 1. Barcelona, 2. Real Madrid, 3. Valencia ... Relegated: Deportivo, Osasuna, Zaragoza 2013-14 1. Barcelona 2. Atletico Madrid 3. Valencia ... Relegated: Mallorca, Valladolid, Levante Sweden 2012 1. Elfsborg 2. Hacken 3. Goteborg ... Relegated: GAIS, Syrianska 2013 1. Orebro 2. AIK 3. Elfsborg ... Relegated: GIF Sundsvall, Hacken 2014 1. Kalmar FF 2. Halmstad 3. AIK ... Relegated: Norrkoping, Mjallby Switzerland 2012-13 1. Sion 2. Basel 3. Young Boys ... Relegated: Lausanne 2013-14 1. Basel 2. Sion 3. Young Boys ... Relegated: Bellinzona USA 2012 League: Seattle ... Playoffs: Philadelphia 2013 League: Los Angeles ... Playoffs: New England Uruguay 2012-13 Open: Progreso, Close: Penarol .... Relegated: Cerro, El Tanque Sisley, Fenix 2013-14 Open: Penarol, Close: Nacional ... Relegated: Cerro Largo, Huracan del Paso, Rocha Club World Cup 2012 Winner: Chelsea ... Runner-up: Corinthians 2013 Winner: Barcelona ... Runner-up: Cruzeiro African Champions League 2012 Winner: Zamalek (EGY) ... Runner-up: TP Mazembe (COD) 2013 Winner: Ismaily (EGY) ... Runner-up: Al-Ahly (EGY) Asian Champions League 2012 Winner: Guangzhou (CHN) ... Runner-up: Al-Ittihad (KSA) 2013 Winner: Funabashi Bandits (JPN) ... Runner-up: Guangzhou (CHN) 2014 Winner: Chelsea (ENG) ... Runner-up: Botafogo (BRA) UEFA Champions League 2012-13 Winner: Barcelona (ESP) ... Runner-up: Man Utd (ENG) 2013-14 Winner: Chelsea (ENG) ... Runner-up: Man City (ENG) CONCACAF Champions League 2012-13 Winner: Los Angeles (USA) ... Runner-up: Chivas (MEX) 2013-14 Winner: Cruz Azul (MEX) ... RUnner-up: America (MEX) Oceania Champions League 2012-13 Winner: Auckland City (NZL) ... Runner-up: Waitakere Utd (NZL) 2013-14 Winner: Auckland City (NZL) ... Runner-up: Waitakere Utd (NZL) Copa Libertadores 2013 Winner: Cruzeiro (BRA) ... Runner-up: Fluminense (BRA) 2014 Winner: Botafogo (BRA) ... Runner-uP: Sao Paulo (BRA) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 Well, Tiny Tim will get a Christmas after all. And a Klingon proverb says revenge is a dish best served cold. What I'm trying to say is I won't be leaving the Netherlands. I won't even be leaving the Jupiler League. Because after missing out on the Perth Glory job to Mark Schwarzer, Almere City decided to take a chance on me. It's not a long deal, only through the end of the season. It's worth $1,800/week though, and there's room in the budget: We have a $165,000 transfer budget, and we're almost $10,000/week under the wage budget. It is a much smaller club, with an average attendance of only 1,455 this season, well below what I was in front of at De Graafschap. Founded in 1997, Almere City FC are a professional Dutch club currently playing in the Jupiler League. The club play their home games at Mitsubishi Forklift Stadion and possess adequate training facilities and basic youth facilities. The club also has average junior coaching and a fairly basic youth recruitment network. The club is affectionately known as Zwarte Schapen. With no real competition history of note, Zwarte Schapen are a club with a trophy cabinet waiting to be filled. Wiki tells me "Zwarte Schapen" translates as "Black Sheep". And it certainly fits their history. They were founded in 1972 when disgruntled supporters formed a new club following the merger of DWS, Volewijckers and Blauw-Wit into FC Amsterdam. "After several violent incidents on the pitch and a six-month suspension by the Royal Dutch Football Association, the club moved from Amsterdam to nearby Almere and changed its name to Sporting Flevoland." In 2001 they became FC Omniworld due to a consortium's efforts (with the city council's participation) to bring professional sport to Almere, with the football club, a basketball club and a volleyball club all sharing the Omniworld name. In 2010 they changed their name again to AFC Almere City before changing it again a few weeks later to Almere City FC on the grounds that the AFC prefix was too reminiscent of their partners AFC Ajax (with which we still have as a parent club). The assistant's report is promising, though we could probably use an upgrade at right back and on the left side of midfield. Oh, and guess who our opponent is coming out of the winter break? You guessed it, De Graafschaap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Shame about your sacking I really thought you was beginning to turn it around. Good luck at Almere Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Friday, 16 January, 2015 De Graafschap 3-0 Almere City (Jupiler League) Attendance: 9,948 Revenge will have to wait. Until I fix the back five. All of De Graafschap's goals came from players who were left unmarked in the penalty area, the second when my "looking uninterested" goalkeeper (who's unhappy that he hasn't played much this season) punched a save into the path of the De Graafschap forward. Friday, 23 January, 2015 FC Den Bosch 4-0 Almere City (Jupiler League) Attendance: 2,936 Well at this rate I won't even survive the first month in Almere. I called out our defence in the pre-match press conference, and they lived down to my expectations. Left back got caught ball-watching on the first goal. On the second, the defense all backed off the man with the ball, so he made a mazy run and took an uncontested shot that whistled into the back of the net. On the third, the Den Bosch forward easily flew past the center back. And the fourth was a corner we didn't deal with. AWful performance. Friday, 30 January, 2015 Almere City 2-1 SC Cambuur (Jupiler League) Attendance: 1,408 Well it wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. Made three changes from the Den Bosch match. Looked like more of the same though when we hammered a shot at an open net off the crossbar though. Finally took the lead in the 44th minute from a fine through ball. Put the game out of reach in the 81st when my substitute left wing tried an overhead clearance of a free kick that whistled into the Cambuur net. They managed pull one back late when they went over the top of my defense, but we managed to hold on even with the referee giving 5-1/2 minutes of 4 minutes of stoppage time. [b]2014-15 Jupiler League (through 25 of 34 rounds) 1. MVV 46 2. Excelsior 45 3. SC Cambuur 43 4. Volendam 39 5. FC Eindhoven 38 6. FC Emmen 37 7. Sparta 36 (+7) 8. FC Den Bosch 36 (+7) 9. Helmond Sport36 (+6) 10.FC Dordrecht 35 (+10) 11.Telstar 35 (+4) 12.De Graafscha.35 (+1) 13.RKC 34 14.FC Oss 33 15.ALMERE CITY 32 16.AGOVV 29 17.SC Veendam 20 18.Spakenburg 15 [i]Cambuur, Excelsior, Helmond Sport have qualified for the playoffs[/i] Manager's thoughts An ugly start to my Almere City tenure, and we didn't look convincing in posting our first win under my regime. There's a lot of work to be done with this time, especially at the back; we have the third worst goal difference in the league (although the -6 from my first three matches doesn't help). Our deep-lying playmake Sander Rozema looked quite good in the win though, so maybe he's someone we can build around. Unfortunately even at the smaller club I'm still running into players "finding it difficult to motivate themselves to play for you." So this could all go pear-shaped again. February is a quiet month with only two matches. We have a two week break until we face Excelsior away, followed a week later with a match against SC Veendam on our plastic pitch. The playoffs aren't totally out of reach, but given how many teams we'd have to leapfrog, I just want us to rack up as many points as we can. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 At least you ended the month with a win, hopefully you can get a few in a row and build up a little momentum Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Jim White Day Top deadline deals: David Luiz from Chelsea to PSG for $16M Marko Scepovic from Partizan to PSV for $10.5M Wout Brama from FC Twente to PSV for $7M So as you can guess, it was a busy deadline day in the Netherlands. PSV accounted for 2 of the top 3 deals, with AZ splashing out a combined $6M in the 5th and 6th largest deals. Vitesse had the 7th biggest deal at $1.8M and the 9th biggest at $1.5M. Utrecht were involved in the 4th biggest deal when they sold Cedric Badjeck to Porto for $5M. We weren't part of that action, but we were busy during the winter window. IN Christian Nade (Loan, Buriram United) The 30-year-old French forward (whom some of you might remember from Hearts) has been in Thailand the past four seasons. Buriram put him on the transfer window at no cost, but I decided to be more cautious and just try him on loan. My coaches are across the board on him, but in general they see him as an Eredivisie player at this moment. Mike ten Kroode (Free) A product of Den Haag's youth system, the 20-year-old goalkeeper didn't make the grade for them and they released him after last season (in which he made 13 appearances for them). I'd brought him on trial with De Graafschap only for him to suffer an injury a few days into it. I gave him another trial at Almere and decided it was worth the punt. More of a long-term signing, the coaches generally see him as a Topklasse player now, but with the potential to be a good Eredivisie goalkeeper. Daniel Buballa (Free) The versatile German (primarily left back, but also left midfield) has bounced around a bit, but posted a 7.22 rating in 20 2.Bundesliga appearances two seasons ago, followed by a 7.1 in 6 appearances last season. I'm hopeful that he can provide an upgrade to what I've had to run out at left back so far. At age 24, my coaches don't think he'll get much better, but they do think he can be an important first-team player for us. Signed only through the end of the season, so it's a fairly low-risk deal for us. Alessandro Cesarini (Free) A bit of a journeyman himself, the 25-year-old Italian foward was good enough to get 16 appearances in Serie A last season with Spezia, but only scored twice and had a 6.42 rating. We're looking for something more like two seasons ago when he scored 16 goals in 31 appearances for Prato in Serie C1. The coaches are mixed on him, with most seeing him as a good Jupiler League forward, but a couple see him only as a Topklasse player. Another low-risk deal, signed only through the remainder of this season. Out Allard Dobbe (Loan, ARC) A not especially good young centerback who was whinging about wanting to go on loan. Put him on the development list and ARC decided he was good enough for them. His contract with us experies at the end of the season, and it's doubtful I'll re-sign him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Friday, 13 February, 2015 Excelsior 2-1 Almere City (Jupiler League) Attendance: 3,399 Frustrating. Took the lead in the 32nd minute through a textbook counterattack, only to give it up 6 minutes later when my defense parted like the Red Sea to allow an opposing forward to run at goal with the ball. Condemned to defeat in the 77th minute when the Excelsior right wing managed to get a shot off from a tight angle. They had only 2 shots on target the whole game, and they both end up in the back of the net. Friday, 20 February, 2015 Almere City 1-0 SC Veendam (Jupiler League) Attendance: 1,379 A much more dominant win than the score suggests. We had 61% of possession, and Veendam took only 2 shots, both of them off target. [b]2015-16 Jupiler League (through 27 of 34 rounds)[/b] 1. Excelsior 51 ------------------ 2. MVV 50 3. SC Cambuur 46 4. Volendam 43 5. Helmond Spor.42 6. Telstar 41 7. De Graafsch. 39 8. FC Dordrecht 38 (+7) ------------------ 9. FC Emmen 38 (+5) 10.FC Eindhoven 38 (+2) 11.Sparta 37 (+6) 12.FC Den Bosch 37 (+6) 13.RKC 35 (-2) 14.ALMERE CITY 35 (-12) 15.FC Oss 33 16.AGOVV 30 17.SC Veendam 23 ------------------ 18.Spakenburg 18 [i]Cambuur, Excelsior, Helmond Sport have qualified for playoffs[/i] Manager's thoughts A mixed bag with a win and a loss in this quiet month. I gave ten Kroode his debut in the Veendam match despite him not having match fitness, but we made it so we didn't have to rely on him. Nade got his first goal for the club in that match also, so there are hopeful signs if we can get a bit of traction. The playoffs are still a possibility if we can get any kind of consistency, and our remaining fixtures give us a chance. A tough away trip to MVV (2nd) starts off the month of March, followed 3 days later with a home match against AGOVV (16th). Four days after that is a trip to Sparta (11th), then a two week break before we welcome Dordrecht (8th) to our plastic pitch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 De Graafschaap on their way up the league without you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 De Graafschaap on their way up the league without you. ****. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 You definitely aren't far off of the playoffs. Just need a decent turn in form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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